I don’t know if I could survive a year without hunkering down in my studio during the cold months of January and February. It’s like a gift of time, when you can focus and get things done, without warm weather distractions. My plan is to make as much progress as possible on my picture book, My Bed: Where Children Sleep Around the World. The summer deadline looms large and no matter what I do, the process cannot be sped up. So, that means stitching in front of the fire in the evening, too. I’m not complaining – this is my happy place! For the past year or so, I’ve been sharing photos of the book’s progress on this blog, with more frequent updates on Facebook and Instagram, which a follower called “a daily dose of eye candy.” The story, which features children in different cultures and living environments, was written by Rebecca Bond and will be published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in 2020.

Today, I’d like to show how I made a two hump, or Bactrian camel, which will be a spot illustration to go with the North African scene.

UPDATE: I am thankful to Anna from Alaska, who pointed out that African camels are the dromedary or one-hump type, which shows sloppy research on my part. So, I’ve just transformed this guy’s two-humps into one! It’s better to find out now, before the book is printed and smart little kids write in to correct me!

For a guide, I used this wooden toy camel that I made in the mid-80’s, when I went through a period of cutting out shapes on a jig saw.

The legs were made by wrapping embroidery floss around a bent pipe cleaner, just like the dolls’ limbs in my how-to book, Felt Wee Folk.

Here, I’m stitching a blanket with fringe to the simple cut-out felt shape of the camel.

The chain stitch is becoming my favorite way to “draw” and “color in” with thread these days.

I stitched the front and back pieces together with a blanket stitch. But before that, I sewed the seed bead eye in place and embroidered the heavy eyelid. The bead is probably set inside a small slit, cut into the felt. Sometimes, I can’t remember exactly how things are done, which is why these peeks behind the scenes are really too vague to be tutorials.

I cut out a felt ear, outlined it in blanket stitch and and sewed it to the head. I like to add details, even in the smallest of figures and thought that a little hair on the head and neck would make this camel more distinctive.

Here’s an even smaller camel, which will be included in another scene in the book. I think I’ve reached my size limit with this one!

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Let’s start the new year with a duck. It’ll be a spot illustration in my new picture book, MY BED. Each double page spread will have a text panel with a corresponding animal. The duck will appear alongside the scene with a houseboat in Holland, which you can see here.

As with the other animals I’ve made so far (elephant and goldfish, parrot and sheep, rooster,cat), I start with research photos. In this case, I searched for pictures of a classic rubber ducky, with webbed feet. I was so interested in figuring out how to make the feet, that I tackled them first. That turned out to be a mistake because they ended up being too small and out of proportion to the body that came later.

I want to use this duck as an example of how I really work, which is not in a straight line, but here, there and everywhere. My creative process is full of experiments that may or may not end up in the finished piece, but they are essential to getting there.

The second pair of feet (pictured below) are a little bit larger and more neatly defined. It’s not unusual for me to take several tries to get something the way I imagine it. There’s a lot of ripping out and starting over, which is one of the advantages of using thread. For the feet, I devised a kind of weaving stitch that created the webbing between the 3 toes.

The body and wing are made of 2 shades of yellow felt.

The beak was a bit tricky to get to look right and took several attempts. It started with a thread wrapped piece of wire that’s bent into two V shapes for the top and bottom of the beak.

I then stitch the thread wrapped wire onto the head. The round shape of the head is from a wooden bead that is covered with felt, which I forgot to document with a photo. I wasn’t happy with how this beak (below photo) was coming out, so I ripped it out and started over.

Birds of Beebe Woods 2012

glittery landscape

I’ve had practice making bird beaks for the Birds of Beebe Woods and the Twitter Bird in my animated film, Liberty and Justice, but it’s like a new experience every time. When faced with a new challenge, I let my hands guide me, trusting that a solution will appear. That’s what keeps it interesting and never boring!

This is the second try at forming the duck’s beak.

After stitching the top and bottom beak in place, I wrapped thread around the wire. I then added a seed bead eye and stitched on the wing.

It looks like I opened up the bottom of the duck’s body to make room for it’s legs. They were the last to stitch in place, with the first pair lingering in the sidelines.

After looking at the duck for a while, I decided that it need more personality. The plain rubber ducky look just wasn’t enough! So I added some details, like the embroidered feather texture and the distinguishing lines on the wings.

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]]>https://weefolkstudio.com/2019/01/05/bed-book-peek-duck/feed/22duck (1 of 1)-10weefolk2018 – precious to provocativehttps://weefolkstudio.com/2018/12/27/2018-precious-to-provocative/
https://weefolkstudio.com/2018/12/27/2018-precious-to-provocative/#commentsThu, 27 Dec 2018 14:35:13 +0000http://weefolkstudio.com/?p=28122Continue reading →]]>It’s been quite a year. Thank you for coming along on my artistic journey, which I endeavor to make entertaining, as well as thought provoking. It’s encouraging to know that you are out there, interested in what’s happening at Wee Folk Studio!

To help review the year, I’ve organized a list of all of the posts published on this blog in 2018. They are grouped by topic, including a miscellaneous category at the end. Like my work, the subject matter ranges from precious to provocative. Along with the ubiquitous fairies and Polly Doll adventures, there’s our animated film, “Liberty and Justice” and the exhibit that caused a ruckus. I also documented the process of making a new picture book, “My Bed: Where Children Sleep Around the World”, which will continue into 2019. I hope you enjoy the 2018 tour.

Censorship and the Liberty and Justice Exhibit It took me awhile to understand that being called a badass is a high form of praise these days. I was as unfamiliar with the term as spellcheck, which automatically underlines it in red, as if it is too hot to handle. But, after experiencing the cancellation of my exhibit because of its political content and the subsequent uproar, I’m enjoying the label, no matter how ridiculous it sounds. Over the past 2 years, I’ve made art that shows a provocative side that has always been there – it just needed a good enough reason to reveal itself. The following links cover the story of the Liberty and Justice exhibition:

Bed BookThis year, I’ve focused on illustrating a new picture book that explores varied cultures from around the world. My Bed: Where Children Sleep Around the World is written by Rebecca Bond and will be published by HoughtonMifflin in 2020. I’m really enjoying the process and am falling more and more in love with the children and their living environments as time goes on. The end of the project is near, but there’s still a lot to do before late Spring, when the finishes are due! The following links document the process of making scenes and animal icons that were completed in 2018:

Ltd. Edition FairiesEven though I’ve moved on from fairies, I still like to take projects to work on while traveling. So, every once in a while, depending on my schedule, a Ltd. Edition of 25 Fairies makes its way into my Etsy Shop. This year I completed 2 fairies, Honeydew and Petunia. You can see the process of making them here:HoneydewPetunia

Polly in Edinburgh

Polly DollPolly traveled to Scotland in her custom made Fair Isle vest.

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I wrote this post 2 years ago and don’t know why it stayed in the drafts folder all that time. It was clearly written during a period of procrastination or when there was a gap in my work schedule, because it mentions cleaning my studio, which rarely happens. Right now, I’m engrossed in the process of working on a new children’s book, which you can follow here. It’s a calming break from earlier this fall when my Liberty and Justice exhibit caused a ruckus because of its political satire. So, let’s take a little detour and visit some small things around my studio!

But first an UPDATE on last week’s offer of special discontinued cards. Even though they sold out quickly, there are other designs available, like this 8 card sampler of wee folk babies and fairies.

— While cleaning up my studio, I came across the elephant pictured above. Her name is Savi and she is the main character in The Way Home, my first book. This attempt at an elephant wasn’t up to my standards (I think the bumpy trunk bothered me), so she never made it into an illustration. She’s been hanging out in my studio for 25 years. I took her picture and posted it on Instagram and Facebook.

Since then, I’ve found more small things to photograph and post. I’m holding some of them, so you can see the scale in relation to my hand. There’s Humpty Dumpty, 1 inch wee folk characters, a house and leaves that were used as spot illustrations in Pocketful of Posies. There’s a chipping sparrow that wasn’t included in the finished Birds of Beebe Woods. And at the end is a yellow telephone I made while in art school over 40 years ago.

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I am happy to offer a very limited supply of discontinued Wee Folk Studio note cards, which were recently discovered in storage. Most of these designs were originally released in the early 2000’s and have been out of print for over 10 years. They come from a time when my business was dominated by fairies, with dozens of varieties of kits and cards sold on a wholesale basis to catalogs and stores.

Back then, I could be seen photographing fairies all over town, along the roadside, at the beach or on the bike path. This all-consuming experience led to writing my how-to book, Felt Wee Folk, which gives step-by-step instructions for making your own fairies and wee folk characters. My work has taken me in other directions since then, but I look back fondly at this period when the possibilities to expand the wee world seemed endless. I don’t think I would be making the kind of art I am today, if I hadn’t gone through this “fairy period”.

The cards will be sold in packs of 8 different designs, 4.25″ x 6″, with envelopes, in a vinyl wallet. The watermark will not appear on the cards. Each set will include 8 different cards, selected at random from a choice of 16 different images — Bay Berry, Morning Glory, Princess Dill, Harvest Folk, Swamp Rose, Dandelion, Lavender, Crystal, Flora and Rosebud, Sweet Pea, Milkweed, Bitter Sweet, Blueberry, Petite Pea, Moon Shell, and Rosita.

UPDATE: The discontinued cards sold out quickly, but there’s another 8 card sampler of fairies and baby wee folk available, which is a good substitute.

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This family recipe was first published on my blog 6 years ago. Based on the numbers of visits since then, the post has been a constant favorite ever since. If you want to bring something special that’s not hard to make to a holiday party this season, try it out!

Cheese straws are my favorite offering to bring to holiday gatherings. The recipe comes from my maternal grandmother’s family from Orangeburg, South Carolina. The tradition has been passed down from mother to child for generations. There are cheese straws and then there are these cheese straws, which always get a lot of attention. I’m working on teaching my sons how to make them – they sure like to eat them! The trick is to use the sharpest cheddar cheese you can get and to roll them as thinly as possible.

Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter, like you are making pie crust.

Grate the cheddar cheese and stir it in with the flour mixture.

Dribble ice water into the mixture and combine until it sticks together in a doughy consistency. Don’t let it get too soggy!

Divide into balls, handling the dough as little as possible. Then wrap the balls and refrigerate for a few hours.

Roll out the dough balls as thinly as possible and cut in strips with a pastry wheel.

Spread the straws out on a cookie sheet and bake in a 350 degree oven for 15 to 20 minutes, until golden brown. They may take longer to cook, so check them often and switch pans to different racks during baking time.

They don’t take long to cool, so immediately sample a few. Now, put them out and watch them disappear! They can be saved in a tin and make a great gift, too.

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It’s been a while since Self Portrait was featured in my very first blog post in 2009, so I thought I’d revisit it today. In the exhibit at the New England Quilt Museum, the piece hangs on a wall between two galleries, which hold different portions of the exhibit. It was the museum’s idea to show earlier work from “the innocent years” in one space, as a point of reference, while across the hall is a separate room featuring my recent foray into political satire. There are enlarged photographs of the Wee Folk Players, the animated 14 minute film, Liberty and Justice: A Cautionary Tale in the Land of the Free and a display case full of the real dolls, props and scenery from the film.

Self Portrait detail

An old acquaintance wrote to tell me that she brought three generations of her family to see the show in Lowell during Thanksgiving weekend. She found out about the exhibit through an article in the Boston Globe about its abrupt cancellation at another venue, due to its political content. She said they enjoyed seeing the new political stuff as well as the earlier work, but she especially wanted me to know that her 4 year old granddaughter was so taken with my self portrait that they couldn’t tear her away. For little Emma, seeing the progression of dolls opened up the concept of growing up, which led to her asking lots of questions. I love hearing accounts like this, because it reaffirms my intention to make art for all ages, whether it’s book illustration, stand alone embroidered pieces or political satire.

This piece seems to resonate with a lot of people whose lives parallel the same time period. I can’t tell you how many women remark that they had an alpaca poncho, too! As well as clothing memories, we all have a personal soundtrack that goes with different times in our lives. This video is a nostalgic tour through fashion and music that my husband Rob and I put together. At the end, there’s a list of the music.

Self-Portrait detail, 2007

I made the piece for a self-portrait invitational show in 2007. It shows a spiral of dolls, one for each year, starting with my birth date in the center. Each figure is dressed in an outfit I would have worn that year, taken from memories, family photos or imagination. The figures range from 1 in. to 3 1/2 in. and are variations of the wee folk and fairy dolls in my how-to book, Felt Wee Folk.

Self-Portrait detail

Since I made many of my own clothes, I remember the fabrics and clothing styles. They are recreated here with smaller scale fabric and embroidered wool felt. My husband, Rob, appears the year we were married and my sons, Peter and Ian, are included through the years when they were little and physically connected to me. The tatting around the outside of the circle was made over 100 years ago by my late grandmother, Louise Salley Hartwell. The wool felt spiral in color gradation is mounted on upholstery fabric, which I embellished with multicolored french knots.

I hope that you enjoyed this trip down memory lane! You can see the Self Portrait: A Personal History of Fashion in the Liberty and Justiceexhibit at the New England Quilt Museum in Lowell, MA until Dec. 30, 2018. Then, the entire exhibit will travel to the Cotuit Center of the Arts in Cotuit, MA, March 2 – April 22, 2018. I will give a talk about finding a voice through art, “Sweet to Satirical” on Sat., April 13 at 3:00 pm.

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I’d like to introduce PETUNIA, the newest Ltd. Edition Fairy. The group of 25 dolls have been traveling around with me for about 6 months and finally they are all dressed, coiffed and winged! The fairies will be ready to fly off from my Etsy Shop to their new homes on Saturday, Dec. 1, 2018 at 10 AM (Eastern US time). They will be sold on a first come, first served basis. Sorry, no reservations ahead of time. I realize that the hour of the day is in the middle of the night for those of you on the other side of the world, but I can’t figure out how to make it perfectly fair.

I started making this group while in Scotland last spring. Here I am in the Edinburgh Airport, sewing their felt tunics while waiting for my plane. As with all of the Ltd. Edition Fairies, I only work on them while traveling, when there are long stretches of time to fill going from one place to another. The photo reminds me of a drawing I made of my mother many years ago. She is knitting one of her signature hats featured in my sister Anne Mavor’s 2006 article, “My Mum’s Fair Isle Hat” which she wrote for Interweave Knits Magazine. I wrote about it in this Blog post. I suppose we are all destined to become our mothers in some way!

As you can see, I haven’t weened myself entirely from making fairies. It’s a nice relaxing, portable activity when traveling. I’ve had to put limits on myself at home or else I would make them all the time, instead of pushing myself to do new work. To see this and the other fairies in the archives, click here.

So, 1 or 2 times a year, I complete a group of 25 dolls and offer them in my Etsy Shop. They’re basically the same fairies from my how-to book of dolls, Felt Wee Folk – New Adventures.

The only potentially messy part is gluing on their hair and acorn caps, so I usually do that in my studio. The hair is wool fleece, which I’ve just added as a multi colored sampler to my Etsy Shop.

During a recent long car ride, I braided their hair and sewed on their wings while sitting in the passenger seat.

PETUNIA is 3 3/4″ tall, with braided chestnut hair, acorn cap hat, hand embroidered wool felt tunic and petal skirt. Each doll is one of a limited edition of 25 look-alike fairies. They each sell for $85.00 and come with a signed and numbered name tag.

To enter my shop, click here. PETUNIA will be added on Dec. 1 at 10 AM. Good Luck!

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This is the third and final post about making a book illustration with a houseboat on a canal in Holland. To see other posts about this scene, go to Part 1 and Part 2.

Eventually, all of the sewn originals will be photographed and printed inMy Bed, a book about where children sleep around the world. Each spread will depict a child in a different culture and living environment. The story is written by Rebecca Bond and will be published by Houghton Mifflin in 2020. Here are links to posts showing other finished illustrations for the book: Afghanistan, Russia, North Africa, South America, India, Japan and Iran. To see a list of all my books, click here.

For the stone dock, I sewed felt rectangles in place with blanket stitch, interspersed with flat polished stone beads. There needed to be something to tie the boat line to, so I looked through my collection of miscellaneous old metal objects and picked an appropriately weathered looking one with a hole. How was that attached, you may wonder? I glued a piece of felt on the back of the metal piece and then sewed it to the dock.

Since glue is permanent and I like flexibility, I glue felt to the back of the object, instead of directly to the background. That way, you can play around and adjust things until the last minute. The glued on felt provides something to catch the thread when you do sew it in place. And it’s always possible to rip it out and try a new position.

The architecture in Amsterdam is a colorful array of tall narrow buildings with interesting roof treatments.

I embroidered blanket stitch with flower thread around the outside of the felt windows and a door. DMC flower thread is no longer available, but Dutch Treat Designs has some of the discontinued thread in stock.

From the images I found, the stepped roof style looked the most distinctively Dutch. I like the way its zigzagged shape stands out against the blue sky. The research photos made me want to visit Amsterdam!

For door hardware, I sifted through old hooks and eyes, until I found a matching pair of the tiniest eyes. A generous admirer recently gave me a box full of them – what a treasure!

Tube beads worked as architectural details above the windows.

And how can you make a scene set in Holland without a bicycle?

The bicycle frame is wire, the wheels are betel nut beads, the handlebars are an eye (from hook and eye) and the seat and gears are metal snap parts. In the photo below, you can see what it looks like in the back, with wire and thread holding everything in place.

I found a cord that looked like a well used dock line and fed it through the hole in the metal part on the canal wall. Then the houseboat could be tied up safely.

I hope that you enjoyed this little peek behind the scenes at making the illustration with a houseboat on a canal in Holland. To see other posts about this scene, go to Part 1 and Part 2.

I am happy to announce that the Cahoon Museum will be hosting the premiere exhibit of original illustrations for MY BED: Where Children Sleep Around the World. The exhibit will be coordinated with the book’s publication by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in the fall of 2020. Like the traveling show for Pocketful of Posies, I hope to schedule other exhibits, so that more people can see the “real thing”. Interested museums and art centers are welcome to contact me for information about hosting an exhibit. It would be wonderful to have the illustrations make their way across the whole country!

To keep up with new posts, please subscribe to this blog (top right column on the home page). Your contact info will not be sold or shared. If you’d like to see more frequent photos tracking the projects in my studio, please follow me on Facebook and/or Instagram

To keep up with new posts, please subscribe to this blog (top right column on the home page). Your contact info will not be sold or shared. If you’d like to see more frequent photos tracking the projects in my studio, please follow me on Facebook and/or Instagram